Juvenile Justice Update: Week of 3/3/11

Human Trafficking Bill:HB 200 (Rep. Edward Lindsey, 54th Dist.) passed the House on Wednesday with a vote of 168 to 1, and now goes on to the Senate.

Runaway Shelter Bill: Thursday, HB 185 (Rep. Tom Weldon, 3rd Dist.) will undergo it’s third hearing in the Setzler Subcommittee of the Non-Civil Judiciary Committee. The Runaway Youth Safety Act would require that service providers who deal with runaway or homeless youth to contact the parents or legal custodians of a runaway child or file a report in compliance with Code Section 19-7-5 no later than 72 hours after initial contact with a child to prevent being charged with the crime of interfering with custody. This bill would also define a service provider to mean any community-based program with staff trained to provide services to children who have run away or children who are homeless or their families.